Rail-brace.



A. R. MAODONALD.

. RAIL BEACH.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 2, 1914.

Patented June 23, 191 1 gwuwntoz III/4 lRJ fac Donald 1 LANOORAPH 60.,wAsm'NGruN. D. c.

COLUMBIA P ANGUS R. MACDONALD, 0F SYDNEY, NQVA SOOTIA, GANADA.

RAIL-BRACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 2, 19 14.

Patented June 23, 191 1. Serial No. 829,077.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANGUS R. MAoDoN- ALD, a subject of the King of GreatBritain, residing at Sydney, in the Province of Nova Scotia and Dominionof Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRail-Braces; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in rail braces,and has for its principal object to provide a combined rail brace andspike which will firmly hold a railroad rail in position on the tie, andprevent the same from becoming dislodged and from twisting during thepassage of traflic over the road.

Another object of the invention is to provide a railroad spike which iscapable of.

being usedboth as a spike and rail brace should it be so desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and effectiverail brace which is capable of being used independently of the spike.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel combination and arrangement of parts which will be fully set forthin the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure l is a view of a railroad rail show ing the same as it wouldappear when held in position on a tie by means of the spike and bracesmade in accordance with this invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1,and Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 1 andlooking in the direction of the arrow.

Referring now to the drawings by characters of reference, the numeral 1designates a railroad tie of the ordinary type to which the railindicated generally by the numeral 2, is adapted to be secured. Thisrail 2 comprises the usual head 3, web 1, and flanges 5. The tie isprovided with the usual tie plate 6 having formed therein the apertures7 which are spaced from each other substan tially the same distance ofthe width of the flanges 5 of the rail. Each of these apertures is sopositioned as to receive the spikes which will be hereinafter described,so that the spikes will be in proper relation to firmly clamp the railto the tie. A suitable notch 8 is formed in the upper surface of theplate 6 and is arranged to receive the auxiliary rail brace 9 which isprovided with the enlargement 10, in which the head 3 of'the rail isadapted to seat when the device 1s 1n use.

The combined spike and braces, which are designated generally by thenumeral 11, preferably comprise the two separate elements 12 and 13,which are arranged to cooperate with each other and are held incooperating positions by means of the rectangular sleeve 14, by. meansof which the elements are removably held together. The element 12preferably comprises the body portion 15, which is pointed as at 16 andis provided at its upper extremity with the enlarged head 17 havingformed integral therewith at one extremity the upstanding projection 18.This upstanding projection 18 is provided with the beveled face 19 whichis arranged to cooperate with the beveled face 20 formed on thecooperating brace member 13.

The brace plate, designated by the numeral 13, comprises the bodyportion 21, which is cut away at its lower extremity to form the beveledface 20 and which is curved at its upper extremity and cut away to formthe head engaging piece 22 as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that in use the spike formed ofthe element 12 is driven into the tie in the usual manner with the headportion 17 projecting over the flange of the rail. In this position itwill be evident that the upstanding portion 18 of the spike member willbe in the proper position to receive the cooperating member 13 whichseats against the member 18 in such position that the seat 22 willengage the head of the rail and prevent the same from twisting. Thesleeve 14 is then placed in the position illustrated in Fig. 2 so thatthe two elements are held firmly in place and it will be evident that arigid and efficient rail brace is thereby provided. In the use of theauxiliary brace 9, it will be apparent that the portion 10 is broughtinto engagement with the head and the opposite end of the member 9 isseated within the notch 8, thus firmly holding the brace 9 in position.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that such changesmay be made in the combination and arrangement of parts as will fallwithin the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appendedclaims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, a rail brace comprising aspike, an upstanding portion formed on the spike, a brace member, acut-away portion formed on the brace member and adapted to form a seatfor the head of a railroad rail when the device is in use, and a reducedextension at the lower extremity of the brace member and adapted toengage the upstanding portion of the spike member to hold the bracemember firmly in place and prevent the rail from becoming displaced.

2. In a device of the character described, a spike member, an extensionformed on the head of the spike member, a brace member, a cut-awayportion formed at the upper extremity of the brace member to form a railseat in which the head of the rail is adapted to rest when the device isin use, an extension formed at the lower end of the rail extension onthe brace member and the extension on the spike member to hold the twoelements firmly in placeand prevent accidental displacement, of therail.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with arailroad tie, a tie plate, and a railroad rail, resting on the tieplate, of a spike member extending through the tie plate, and overlyingone of the flanges of the rail, an extension on the spike member, saidextension projecting upwardly toward the head of the rail, a bracemember, a seat formed at the upper end of the brace member to receivethe head of the rail to prevent the same from tilting, an exten sion atthe lower end of the brace'memberadapted to engage the extension on thespike member to prevent the lower end of the brace member from becomingdisplaced, and a sleeve surrounding both extensions to firmly hold thewhole together.

in testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ANGUS R. MACDONALD.

Witnesses:

C. F. MAXWELL, I. W. BEOKHAM.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patent: Washington, D. G.

